


Finding Home

by Lyxan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventures of Aliens on Earth, Becoming a Family AU, Cool Alien Kids, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, WHERE EVERY SHIP IS POSSIBLE, excuses to write about Keith and Hippos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-01-08 19:29:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12260667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyxan/pseuds/Lyxan
Summary: Keith finds out his lineage, he is part Human --- Whatever that is. But Allura can't leave well enough alone and forces the part human on a runaway trip to the far off planet to learn of his heritage. Luckily for the pair, they stumble into four very helpful humans who are ready to share the joys and heartaches of Earth.





	1. Leaving well enough alone

The lights blinked on the wall screen, a docile tone ringing through the air: the sign of an incoming call. Keith groaned as he rolled out of bed towards it - it was a 50-50 guess as to who was calling.

  
Mom? Unlikely. She was busy with the blades and she had spoke to him last phebe. She trusted her son to be a grown man and wasn’t the hovering type so he highly doubted the call was from her.

As the screen shone to life, his suspicion was confirmed - not that it needed to be, she was the only other person to ever call him.

“Keith, you look terrible.” Allura as always looked every inch the princess she was - bright, enthusiastic, in control, and annoyingly chipper.

“I was sleeping.” Keith rubbed at his face.

He and Allura had met when they were children, the Altean royalty frequented Daibazaal enough that she would often find herself in the training centers with young Galra. No one wanted to befriend the weird half Galran who didn’t even look like a galra - but on the other hand everyone was afraid to befriend the princess of Altea. So naturally the two were often outcasts and Allura took it upon herself to force her friendship on the only other loner child, a friendship that had lasted to this day.

He never knew what the Altean Princess saw in him, but every time he tired to push her away, she would stay. A beacon on light, hope, and acceptance. Keith hated how much faith he had in her- she was his friend and though they may not see each other in person often, she was always a video call away.  
“You’ll never guess where I just came from! A Balmera! Oh Keith it was so lovely, you should see the crystals!” The Princess gushed about her recent trip as Keith readied himself for the day - giving occasional grunts and nods to let her know he was still listening.  
When her story came to an end and he watched her demeanor change from ‘Polite diplomatic Allura’ to ‘Protective fight me Allura’. He swallowed and scratched his head, acting as if he hadn’t seen her eyes darken and her lips press together as if she was already trying to solve all his problems.

“Keith - whats wrong.”

“Nothing.” He lied. He always did.

“You’re more sullen than normal.”

“No I’m not.” Another lie, but his best friend had so much responsibility he never liked opening up to her because she felt like she had to help him - not that he opened up that much at all, but Allura was really the only one he had. She had a Kingdom on her shoulders, with her Father a Paladin of Voltron much of the actual royal duties had fallen on the still young woman.

“Oh really? I just watched you select the ‘Some poor sentry is going to die slowly and painfully’ knife.” She pointed to the sheath on his waist and he looked away.

“This is the ‘I’m thinking about things’ one.”

“Oh?”

“Allura - please.”

“Keith, I am your friend! I care about you. Please. Can you just talk to me instead of taking out all your rage on some poor training bot?” Allura pleaded, and when Keith looked back up to the screen he let out a long sigh. “Or at least tell me and then take your rage out on some bot.”

“Fine.” He gave in. “Allura - I’m half Galra.”

She snorted, trying not to laugh at the obvious remark.

“Yeah, and so is Prince Lotor. What of it.”

“The other half - is human.” He had only learned recently, after years of asking, his mother had finally relented and spilled the story of the blade’s mission on the far off planet.

He apparently had been born on the planet, but when the decision that earth was not yet ready to join the Voltron alliance was made, she had whisked him back into space. His mother had mentioned loving his father, but never spoke of him, or his name, or the dingy little planet on the other side of the galaxy.

Sometimes he dreamed of a sandy ground and a blue sky - maybe that was memories of the planet he would never know.

“Human?” She questioned - Allura knew a lot of races, but that one was new.

“Yeah. On a place called Earth.”

“They call their planet dirt?” She blinked. “This is GREAT Keith! We should go!”

“Allura, no - I - just leave it okay.” He already regretted opening his mouth. “I have to go.” He stood and ended the call as he could hear her fumbling with a response before the screen went blank.

He slumped backwards onto his bed and held up the knife he had chosen to wear that day, it wasn’t ‘some poor bot’ or ‘I’m thinking’ one - it was one from Earth, wherever that was - and it was the only thing he had from that planet.

\---

The small ship landed so roughly the guards winced but moved to the door to assist the visitor off.

“Princess Allura - Welcome to Daibazaal.” One spoke, reaching for her hand which she refused as she stepped off the ship. “Shall we inform Prince Lotor of your arrival? Have a room prepared?”

“No, that is quite alright - thank you. I should only be here for a varga. It’s a social call.” She responded with a slight bow. The guard nodded and gestured for two sentries to follow after her, she didn’t mind - it was customary to have some sort of protection on whatever planet she went.

Keith didn’t live far from the port, the large military bunk complex housed many family members of the Blade of Marmora, Zarkon’s elite covert operations unit. She hadn’t been there in decaphebes, but it was still the same way she remembered it. Solid purple walls, dim lights, a cold and thick silence, it was no wonder Keith was how he was.

“Wait here.” She ordered the two sentry bots who took up guarding on either side of Keith’s door. She knocked politely and when she heard a groan and shuffling on the other side she let herself in.

“Allura!” Keith yelped, entering the front room to find her standing in her flight suit looking as smug as ever - again she had woken him up.

“Keith put on pants, pack your stuff, let’s go.”

“Go where?” He demanded flatly, narrowing his eyes.

“Earth.” She beamed, and the half Galra growled lowly.

“What?”

“I know how to Teludav, I have a ship capable, and I’ve told father that you and I are going on a camping trip on Veata Seven.”

“Allura, you don’t have to this for me.” There was pure annoyance in his voice. She was always so set in her ways - and this was one more thing the Princess had decided to do without taking anything else into account. She always tried to do what was best, what she felt was just but this wasn’t something he wanted and he regretted ever telling her about his lineage.

“I will. You are my friend and I have my own reasons for seeing this Earth myself.”

“Oh?” Keith inquired, leaning against the wall.

“Keith. I always thought you were half Altean. Sure you don’t look like Lotor but, you’ve very Altean like, besides your ears and lack of markings - but Galran and Altean genetics are weird. I honestly thought you and I shared at least half a race.”

Keith looked away from her - she was firm and purposeful in her words as she continued, as if she rehearsed this speech the entire flight here. “I was born after almost a third of my race were decimated in a war that forced the Paladins of Voltron to even become friends in the first place. If there’s even a chance Humans are remotely like Alteans, then I wish to know of them.”

“The blades abandoned earth - they weren’t even out of their solar system yet.” Keith protested fiercely. Why did he care? Allura could go all she wanted - but he - he was afraid. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and it joined the knot in his stomach.

“Yes, almost 20 decaphebes ago. Even the Wortenzel tribes learned to stop killing and eating each other based on weather patterns within 10 decaphebes! And they had been doing that since before the castle of lions was even built.” She protested. “If you don’t want to come to earth for you, to learn of your own lineage, then come for me. I know none other I trust with my safety.”

Keith groaned loudly, she had pulled her princess tone and he knew she wasn’t about to relent. He turned back towards his bedroom, realizing it was too much hassle to continue the fight against her.

“Fine.” He shrugged angrily, closing his door a little too roughly, he swore he heard her hum triumphantly as he went.

 

It didn’t take long to pack, and eventually Keith felt eyes on him as he scoured his stash of blades. He selected four - one easily hidden, one that was meant for his eventual joining into the blades, one larger and more threatening, and finally the earth one.

“No knives, Keith.” a voice halfheartedly commanded.

“Allura - please tell me you brought weapons.”

“Of course not. Keith, this is diplomatic in nature.”

“And if it goes bad faster than a Larmuxian Snipe hound?” He turned to her only after selecting a fifth blade.

“It won’t.”

“But if it does?”

“I have my staff.” Keith let out a sigh. “Oh, what?” She crossed her arms.

“They’ll probably be above hand to hand Allura.” He snapped, storming past her, he opened his front door. Dumb princess. She knew how to fight but that didn’t mean anything on an alien planet with alien weapons.

Keith turned to one of the sentries standing guard at the door.

“Relinquish weapon - ID X9Vega-47Tak.” The eyes of the bot flashed and it passed the blaster in it’s hands to Keith. He rolled it over, checking the charge and nodded firmly. He closed the door and roughly shoved the gun into Allura’s hands as he passed by her once more to grab the bag of his belongings.

“If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right.”

“Fine.” She seemed so small holding the blaster and Keith winced at the thoughts running though his head.

He was running away with a naive Altean princess to chase after a planet that may never accept him in the hopes of being able to fill the void he felt in his heart.

As bad of a decision as this was, as doubtful as he was about Earth as a whole, and as fast as this seemed to rush at him the familiar pressure of the knife in it’s sheath pressed against his back gave him a small comfort. He boarded Allura’s ship with his bag slung over his shoulder and he watched his friend slide into the pilot’s seat, firing up the systems.

“I should probably fly.” He dropped his bag next to hers and briefly wondered what superficial things she had packed and if Coran was aware of her true intentions.

“I will NOT have you discriminate against me just because I am a princess.” Allura shot back, taking a hold of the handles as the engines kicked on.

“I’m not discriminating against you for being a princess, I’m discriminating against you for being a bad pilot.” Keith had flown, often, and well - and Allura, well, this was a completely different type of ship than the castle of lions. Keith quickly found a seat and strapped himself in as she ship took a hard jerk upwards.

“I have flown the castle for Decaphebes.” She protested. They hadn’t even left the atmosphere and Keith was already feeling ill.

“And you also once crashed it into an asteroid.”

“Could have happened to anyone.” She shot back, trying to focus on steadying the ship.

“Yeah. Anyone blinder than Narati wouldn’t have seen the Asteroid belt.”

“Keith - do you want to go to Earth or not?” She growled.

“Preferably in once piece.” He grumbled.

Earth was a long - long - ways away.


	2. Be Firm About the Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bustin' Kids - finding aliens - and defensive Keith is defensive. Short chapter but now we're getting to the fun part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a mess. I am so sorry. The next one is better I really didn't know what to do with this.

Flight Instructor. He thought his life would be a little more glamorous after their return from Kerberous, but at least it was something to do between missions. He never thought of being one of the Garrison’s professors, and honestly, it scared him a little to think that the next generation of space explorers would be staring at him expectantly, hoping for words of wisdom.

“Shirogane! Don’t forget you’re on rounds.” Lt. Iverson called from the next room and Shiro shuddered at the tone. Great. Lights out in five and he’d have to spend the next two hours looking for cadets running around after dark. He hadn’t even officially took his first class yet - though he’d had a meeting with the previous flight instructor who had gave him fair warnings about his new class. 

He wasn’t worried, no major issues just a couple, more like ‘three’ - less than well behaved students.

He could handle that. At least he hoped he could.

He patrolled the halls and quite liked the silence - it reminded him of the half year he had spent going to Kerberous and back with the Holts. A peaceful moment to reflect and relax and think about how vast the universe was. Just him, his own thoughts and dim lights to surround him.

It was mostly silent, his watch almost ending and he found himself in the C wing, near a bunch of the student dorms.

He felt a little like a hypocrite. He couldn’t count how many times he, sometimes with a reluctant Matt in tow, would scamper down the halls far past curfew. He rounded the corner and looked up the staircase that led to roof C, a lower roof near the satellite that gave a great view of the expansive desert. It was a favorite hide away of his back then. 

The lock had been busted so many times it barely worked when he was still a cadet - he couldn’t imagine it got much better. Maybe the new class of cadets had found the sweet spot and he carefully climbed the stairs and sure enough behind the busted door he heard whispered voices. He leaned in towards the door but didn’t have to strain hard to hear the voices on the other side.

“ - definitely said Earth.” one voice came harshly.

“Maybe you hit your head in the simulator.” Another voice responded.

“If I did, it would have been YOUR fault.” the first voice was a little louder, and angrier.

“Guys come on - we’re gonna get caught.” A third pleaded. 

Cadets out past curfew, and Shiro straighten himself as he stood there. 

‘It’s your first day - give em a break but be firm about rules’ Shiro gave himself a small pep talk before opening the door.

Sure enough three students were huddled in a ball around a mass of wires and technology.

“What’s going on here?” He kept his voice firm as he stared at the three students quickly jumping to their feet.

“HOLY FU- ahem! Lt Shirogane!” One of the boys saluted quickly. Shiro blinked and everything in his head fell into place - he had been warned about these three.

Cadet Lance McClain - Not the best and the brightest but he had raw talent underneath all his cockiness. If only he could get over him self he could be a great pilot. Known for getting into trouble for his shameless flirting, his ego, and his lack of self confidence. 

Cadet Hunk Garret - A great mechanic known for his weak stomach and many MANY instances of getting into shenanigans with one cadet McClain. Skillful and sincere and would always own up to his misdeeds. It seemed like Hunk was always a less than willing participant who would follow Lance’s lead.

Cadet Katie Holt - Daughter to Sr. Science officer Sam Holt, and sister to Jr. Science officer Matt Holt. Intelligent and wild she had hacked into the garrison systems to change her name to Pidge Gunderson. Though she was something of a genius she was prone to assisting McClain and Garret with various pranks and misdeeds.

“Sir! We were just headed to bed! Please don’t report us!” Hunk started to plead.

“I asked a question Cadets.” He tried not to crack a smile.

“Listening to al-”

“Stargazing.” Lance interrupted Katie.

”Lance!” She hissed jabbing at him and he winced.

“We’re really sorry.” Hunk started again.

“McClain, Garret, Holt. Truth. Now.” 

“He knows our names.” Lance joyfully whispered to Hunk and Pidge rolled her eyes.

“It’s Gunderson.” Pidge corrected. Shiro sighed - teenagers.

“Work with me here guys and I’ll let you off easy.”

“Pidge?” Hunk asked timidly.

“I’ve found transmissions from aliens.” Pidge said confidently. 

“Aliens?” Shiro scoffed. “Matt has been up digging through the ice as much as the garrison will allow. You think his weird plankton can send messages?”

“No! Other ones! Ones flight capable.” Pidge argued back.

“I gotta side with Lt. Shirogane.” Lance put his hands behind his head, and gave a sideways glance to Pidge.

“Don’t side with him just because he’s your hero Lance! You heard it was well as I did!” She pointed to the screen of her laptop. “They said ‘Earth’!”

“Maybe it’s not a alien signal though.” Hunk tried to interject.

“Hunk, do these frequencies LOOK human?” The small girl was becoming agitated, and Shiro rubbed the corners of his eyes. “Something is coming here! Someone! Listen!”

Pidge played the transmission again and sure enough there was a garbled female voice that clearly stated ‘Earth’

Pidge smiled confidently and crossed her arms as Shiro’s mouth fell agape. He hoped it was just some other country’s ship. They weren’t the only ones who had successful missions, they were just the best.

“Where’s it coming from?”

“Well - it came from just past Jupiter - but - it’s strange. Hunk?”

She baton passed the question back.

“It - it seems it’s going too fast like - two minuets ago it was past Kerberous, and now it’s at Jupiter. it could be on us soon.”

“How soon?” Shiro squinted, the way they spoke, they believed every word. If he knew anything about his time with the Holts the whole family was highly intelligent. 

Hunk had showed no sign of misleading others either.

“Uhhh - Now?” Lance pointed upward.

Something blazed in the sky and the four stared at it. As an experienced pilot it didn’t take long for Shiro to realize two things:  
1) He had never seen a craft like that, and  
2) They were moving far too fast.

“They’re coming in hot.” He hissed.

“We - we gotta help them.” Hunk whimpered.

“Come on” Shiro took off first towards the door, Pidge and Lance gathered up the equipment around them and rushed afterwards. They could get a garrison vehicle, drive towards their expected trajectory, and hopefully, maybe, help any survivors.

\----

“Allura are you okay?” Keith coughed from the smoke billowing from the downed ship, wincing against the pain in his side. They hit the ground far too hard.

“Yeah – you?” Allura groaned, She grabbed Keith’s arm to steady her legs. He nodded as he watched her attempt to compose herself.

“This is why I wanted to fly.” Keith groaned as he surveyed their surroundings. Sand and dirt piled high under the dark sky, there were buildings far in the distance and a cloud of dust not far off. He turned back to the ship and looked out to see nothing but more sand that faded far into the darkness. “We’ll have to move quickly – find some place to hold up until help arrives. Does anyone know where we really are?”

Allura nodded as she increased her size, a trick he had watched her pull off before, to tear into the ship like a thin piece of paper. She exposed the inner workings and casually tossed their bags to the Half Galra. “Coran knew my true intentions, but he’d never betray me.” She mused. “Alright, communicators, med kits, survival packets.” She listed as she tore things out of the ship. Keith crammed the items into their already stuffed bags, grumbling. At least she was prepared for this excursion. When she was done picking apart the ship she heavily slammed the torn wall back on, crushing it into place. Sweat beaded down her face as she shrunk back to size and gasped in her helmet. She pressed the buttons on the sides and released the flowing mass of hair. Watching her adjust to the oxygenated air, Keith did the same, shaking his hair of the sweat that had accumulated.

“We’ll head that way for now.” Keith pointed to the empty horizon away from the buildings. “Who knows what humans are like.”

Allura sighed but stepped next to him and hefting her bag up onto her shoulder “I suppose if you feel that’s best.”

Keith gave a glance around as he reached for his bag. He caught the sight of a face peering at them from over a sand dune. Keith quickly shot a defensive arm out in front of Allura and used his other hand to pull out one of his knives. “Allura. We’re not alone.” He seethed, ready for a fight.

“Keith, stand down.” She hissed, her eyes falling on where his knife was pointed. “Hello there!” She tried to smile as she clasped her hands together in front of her.

\---

“Don’t you have a gun or something?” Lance hissed to his senior officer as they abandoned one of the Garrison vehicles and sneaked towards the crash sight.

“I’m an instructor, McClain – not a soldier.”

“You’re built like one though. Maybe we can pretend you’re armed?” Pidge suggested, making sure she was close to Shiro’s side.

“Or – here’s an idea – we all go back to the dorms and let the garrison handle this.” Hunk whimpered, close to Shiro’s other side. Shiro shook his head solemnly.

“Something like this could spark war between countries. Unknown ships with more advanced technologies? No. The Garrision is supposed to be the most advanced.” Shiro was speaking in half truths - if there was a ship that fast, he needed to see it.

“What if it IS an alien?” Lance shuddered as he spoke.

Doubtful. Shiro didn’t respond, he instead snatched Lance’s Jacket and pulled the 3 cadets close to the ground, biting his lower lip and he stared at the wreck.

\---

“It doesn’t look like you.” Allura grumbled bending down towards the four legged beast. “I don’t know if it’s human.”

The coyote growled and took a wide circle around them despite Allura’s attempts to sooth it.

“I don’t know what that is but if it doesn’t stop that noise, I’ll handle it.” Keith growled back. Allura blinked up at him, her face falling.

“Maybe you two ARE related.” She replied dryly, returning to watch the beast.

\---

“Looks like someone beat us here.” Pidge squinted at the two figures.

“Welp – yep – no use us being here too right?” Hunk tried to crawl backwards but was stopped by Shiro’s arm.

“Wait here.” He cautiously ordered and slowly moved to get up.

“Shiro!” Lance hissed, but the pilot of the Kerberous mission crept forward leaving the three behind.

\---

The coyote caught sight of something behind the pair of aliens and gave a bark before turning tail to run off into the night. Keith’s demeanor relaxed and Allura frowned as she watched the dog go.

“You scared it off Keith – way to go.” Allura pouted, standing back up and turning towards Keith. Her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of whatever had frightened the other creature. She dug her fingers into his arm, forcibly spinning him around.

Shiro stared at the two frightened humanoids as one quickly moved to hold the knife point up to him.

“Hi there – um – are you all alright?” Shiro held his hands up to show he didn’t have any weapons but Keith kept a firm stance, his eyes darkening.

“I don’t understand what it’s saying.” Keith hissed.

“But I do.” Allura’s jaw dropped. Whatever language the other being was speaking in was translating perfectly though her earrings. When the Blade were here before they must have analyzed the language and updated it into the system. She frantically reached to her ear and unlatched an earring, she snapped forward and held it to   
Keith’s ear, clasping it onto his earlobe.

“We are fine!” Allura pushed Keith’s blade down and moved to stand in front of the galra. Shiro took a cautious step back.

“I – I don’t understand your language but – we’re peaceful!” Shiro blinked, smiling. He couldn’t understand the frantic tones of the two but one at least looked human. His eyes fell on the girl.

“What?” Keith re-sheathed his blade and adjusted Allura’s earring on his ear. “Human is in the translator? But – it doesn’t understand us.” He whispered to Allura.

“Not for long.” Allura darted to her bag and Shiro jumped, keeping his hands up.

“Shiro!” Lance yelped, emerging from their hiding spot and running to his senior’s side. “What – What do we do?” Hunk and Pidge scampered out afterwards, huddling close to Shiro. Keith kept his eyes on them, his eyes wide.

“They - they ARE aliens!” Pidge gasped.

“I – I don’t know.” Shiro pushed himself in front of his young charges, his eyes shifting from the one digging through the bag and the one who had been ready to fight.

Keith stared at the group of four. They were so varied but, at the same moment they looked so alike. So like him. His lip quivered. He was human after all.

“Got it!” Allura cheered, pulling out a small round device and she trotted back up to Keith, her sharp movements made Shiro’s shoulders stiffen and lean into his team.

“Oh. Oh no. They’re probably afraid.” She frowned, realizing she was not as ready for first contact as she thought. She pressed a button on the disk and tossed it onto the ground in front of her.

The four humans stared at it and Allura pointed to it. Cautiously the smallest one stepped forward, leaned in towards the disk and carefully pulled it up. Her movements slow and calculated. Allura cleared her throat.

"There is no need to be afraid." She spoke, Pidge dropped the disk as she stared at Allura.

"Is - is that better?" She asked and the slow nod she got in response was all she needed.

"That's amazing." The shortest flipped the disk in their hands. "What are you?" Pidge asked.

“Whoa! Is it talking to you?” Lance sputtered.

“Yeah - Yeah I hear it. Or. Understand it I guess. Like she’s speaking English.”

“Oh man! Are - Are they Aliens?” Hunk peered out from behind Shiro.

“Are you from earth?” Pidge asked cautiously.

“Well I’m not.” Allura smiled gently, and gestured to Keith. “And he’s - well. Complicated.”

"Kat- Pidge if you can communicate, tell them don't have time right now.” Shiro interrupted. “This is a crash site, the Garrison could be here any second. No matter who or what they are, we gotta get them out of here."

"Shiro's right. Umm - what about the old shack? You know the old Kogane place?"

"Ah heck no Hunk! That place is so haunted."

"That place is still standing?" Shiro ran a hand though his hair. "Fine. Okay. We don't have a lot of options." 

“Can you understand us?” Pidge asked, Keith glanced away but Allura nodded. 

“You’re speaking is strange but it is understandable.”

“No time, Pidge.” Shiro turned to the two humanoids. “Will you come with us? We have to go." He extended a hand.

“He’s asking if you will come with us - it’s not safe.” Pidge spoke while holding the disk, Keith glanced to Allura for a brief moment, as if asking for permission. 

"They are the experts here." Allura deferred to the human.

"They say we're the experts." Pidge quickly translated.

Shiro smiled gently and reached for Allura's hand, but as his fingers brushed her wrist Keith smacked the humans hand away. Shiro's eyes snapped open but he quickly pulled back and coughed away the awkwardness of his movements. Apparently that was a no go with the aliens and he respected that. He dipped his head in apology to Keith.

"Come on!" Pidge called, clinging to disk as she trotted towards where they left the vehicle.

 

The Garrison was more interested in the downed alien ship than the tire tracks that had left the scene.


	3. Of Princesses and Food Goo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets over translation issues and I badly try to logic what the heck is going on.

It had been an interesting few hours, that just seemed to clarify 'Allura' and 'Keith' were not of this Earth. Though it had been weird to hear their story translated through Pidge, who clung to the weird disk, it seemed that they had only come to learn and truly meant no harm to them.   
The communication barrier was becoming an issue though, as Shiro tried to take charge of the situation in an attempt to keep both the cadets and the aliens safe. It was Pidge who whispered to Hunk in almost more alien words about constructing personal translators and calibrations and reverse engineering - and the two had spent the last half hour breaking down the device.

"How's it coming, Pidge?" Lance asked, hovering above the smaller girl. 

"Be easier if you weren't blocking my light, Lance." She hissed back, typing away on her computer. Hunk gave a soft laugh as he fiddled with the translator disk - now completely in pieces. Shiro sat close by, amazed at the two cadets fiddling with the alien technology. They seemed so sure they could broaden the effect so their new alien friends would be understandable in English and hold actual conversations.

If he was being honest - he was a little jealous. He could fly a ship but a lot of the technological stuff behind it was beyond him. He glanced over to the two aliens who - didn't really look all that alien. With his current form of communication with them in pieces on an old coffee table all he could do was stare.

Keith could be mistaken for any cadet in the Garrison. With his dark hair and eyes he still seemed awkwardly uncomfortable. It could just be chalked up to teenage angst, all part of the human experience. However Allura was - honestly alluring. Her ears, markings, hair, eyes - like some sort of space elf and Shiro wondered what their species as a whole looked like.

 

Allura felt eyes on her and turned to the humans in their huddle and caught Shiro's eye. She smiled sweetly at him, and his eyes softened before glancing back to his team. There was something about these humans, something hopeful, something trustworthy.  
She felt a sense of peace. Her idea of bringing Keith to Earth wasn't as smooth as she had hoped but still - she was sure this was for the best.

"Where's the red lion? It's been over a varga." Keith stared out the small window.

"Hmm?" Allura pretended not to hear him.

"The red lion. You know. Your father's lion? The one speeding here.... After you told Coran to come get us?" His voice was growing more annoyed.

"Hm? I was to tell Coran?" 

Keith turned sharply to the Altean princess.

"Allura." His voice was dangerously low and he grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "Coran knows we crashed, right? He's on his way?" 

She shook her head.

"Allura."

"Keith I brought you here to learn about humans! About you! We're not leaving yet! Besides we're safe!"

"You trust those four? They could be plotting against us right now!" He growled, glancing over her shoulder to the pack of humans.

 

"Hey - uh. Which one do you think is cuter? Silver Goddess or Mystery Mullet?" Lance seemed to have given up on annoying Pidge, and leaned closer to Shiro. 

"Lance." Shiro warned. 

"Being honest though, Shiro. They - they kinda look human. It won't be hard to hide 'em."

"Well - those ears and cheek markings." Shiro tilted his head to the side.

"Just tell people she's into cosplay." Lance shrugged.

"Ya know there's an actual surgery to get elf ears" Pidge didn't even look up from her screen.

"Pidge's got a point." Lance smiled. Shiro rubbed at the corners of his eyes and groaned.

“Listen - I will take care of them - We have got to get you guys back to the garrison. I just gotta - ” He was interrupted in his thoughts trying to comprehend everything by Hunk.

"Okay, whatever energy source they use is incredible." Hunk poked at a few white metal pieces and looked up at his team. "I'm gonna try to get it wired in but - if not we may need like… a car battery.”

"Are you kidding me?" Lance whined.

"Do what you can Hunk. As soon as we can have a real conversation we can find out where to go from here." Shiro said with a nod.

 

"They aren't plotting against us." Allura said flatly, as if she knew what was on their minds. Less than 2 Vargas in and she trusted them. Keith groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Fine.”

"Keith, my earring, please." She outstretched her hand and the Galra reluctantly unhooked the purple gem and dropped it into her palm. He glanced around the room and seemed to slink into the shadows.

“Good luck.” He murmured in an awkward attempt at Altean - he had always been awful at her native tongue.

“Trust me.” Her Galran was as flawless as her Altean and Keith huffed and looked everywhere else in the room.

 

Allura frowned before turning to the group and gracefully walking over, Shiro and Lance stopped talking as she stood before them. She held out the earring to Shiro and motioned to the other one on her own ear. 

"I think she wants to talk to me." Shiro gave Lance a sympathetic look and stood up. He fumbled with the weird jewelry while following the ethereal being outside.

 

"So. Is this working?" Shiro asked tapping at the gem. It felt weird and uncomfortable but sure enough she seemed to speak English in an almost British accent.

"Yes. It should. Shiro, was it?"

He nodded as he fidgeted with the earring.

"You seem to be the leader so I wished to speak with you." Allura kept her eyes trained on him, not out of worry but out of pure interest.

"Yeah I uh - I actually need to know what's going on too." Shiro gave a soft laugh. "But you first, Allura."

She took a sharp breath in and held it for a moment.

"Keith - Keith is not a full Galra. He is part human."

"Oh? That explains a lot actually." He murmured thinking of how their appearance was so close to humans. He wasn’t about to ask how or, well he could think of how. Just more of the logistics of how the how even came to be.

"Shiro - I would ask you to show us around Earth. Teach Keith of his culture." She looked at him with determination and he relented quickly.

"Of course. Anything. Are you here for good - like - your ship crashed and -"

"I am perfectly capable of securing us transport off of your planet Shiro - but I - Keith has always been alone." She looked sadly down at her hands and took laboured breath, without thinking Shiro placed a hand on her shoulder, staring at her as she spoke.

"I want him to experience your world. His world. I - I can't imagine what it must be like. The Galra have never really accepted him."

“But you did?”

“Of course, we were both sort of ostracized.” She gave a gentle laugh.

"You're full Galra though?" His hand slipped from her shoulder and he crossed his arms.

She shook her head.

"No. I am Altean." His face spoke louder than words and she laughed gently. "Keith and I share no lineage or even species. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious on the similarities between humans and Alteans." She reached up to his face and gave a soft yank on his ear. "Though I see where Keith gets his hideous ears from."

Shiro gave a chuckle as as she pulled her hands away.

"Are Galran and Alteans very different?" It was still odd for him to think that she wasn't crazy and speaking in code, that this girl was from somewhere in the sky.

"The Galra are usually purple with large flat ears so Keith is very, very unique." 

"And are you unique for Altean?" He asked.

"I look very much like my mother. The epitome of the royal bloodline I suppose."

"Royal? Your planet has royalty?"

"Yes, my father currently rules planet Altea.”

Shiro ran a hand through his hair - was that as big of a deal as it was on earth? He opened his mouth to start a string of a million questions, but all that came out was a soft squeak.

“We can speak more on that later. An information trade, perhaps?"

"I'd like that." He smiled. "But we'll have to find a more permanent place for you to stay and I'll have to keep you from the Garrison and probably feed you or try to before - wait do you and Keith eat? What even DO you eat?”

They came from a place he could only ever dream of - beyond the stars - and he wasn’t sure he trusted himself with a human baby, let alone aliens.

"Will your team be okay? With helping us?" She ignored his questions as she turned back towards the shack.

"Team? Oh the cadets. Yeah. Probably. Of course! We uh - we should go check on them huh?" He looked back towards the shack and extended a hand. 

"Shall we, Princess?"

 

Keith stood by the wall staring at the human scrawling and posted paper scraps. Were all humans so disjointed and scattered in their thoughts? Is that why sometimes he couldn't put his thoughts into words? Why he felt so disconnected? Though he couldn't read the words they felt so familiar - so comfortable. 

The leaner boy stepped up beside him and stared at the writing on the wall. Keith glanced at him for a moment before shuffling to the side in an attempt to avoid the human. He knew they couldn't communicate, not without the disk or Allura's earrings but the human stood there and ran a hand across one of the papers.  
He turned to catch Keith's eye and patted his chest softly.

"Lance." He spoke and the word was sharp at the front and smooth at the end. Keith didn't understand. They both knew they couldn't talk, yet here the Lance human was trying to.

"Lance." This time he extended the word and spoke slower, quirking his eyebrows as he went.

"What?" Keith asked, there was no translation for the galran word.

"No. Lance." The human shook his head and tried again.

"UGH. I don't know what you want from me!" Keith snapped, crossing his arms and turning away. The human sighed and shrugged, saying something in the infuriating earthling talk to the others.

Lance's hand snatched Keith's and pushed it up to one of the photos on the wall.

"Sand." A different ugly earth word and Keith growled as he pulled his hand away. What the hell was the human trying to do?

Lance was nothing but persistent and repeated the word slower.

"Sand." The language seemed almost song like - there was no rhyme or reason to the way syllables formed together. Each word was an entire beat on its own.

"Sand?" Keith tried to repeat the word. Lance nodded his face turning into a smile. 

"Sand!" Lance spoke slower and Keith realized he had said it slightly off so he repeated it trying to sound it out the way Lance had.

Seeming satisfied, Lance patted his chest.

"Lance." The weird word again. What was this human doing?

"La-" Keith started to copy but the short one, Pidge, joined them and held what seemed to be a smaller version of the disk up to Keith with a string attached to it.

He blinked slowly at it and she forced it into his hands.

"Keith. Can you understand us?" Pidge asked and sure enough to Keith it came through as perfect Galran. 

"Ye-Yeah!" He stumbled.

"Great work, Pidge!" He understood the other human too as he watched the two slap their hands together in some sort of victory posing.

"I can talk to you both?" Keith asked.

"You can talk to anyone and anyone can talk to you." Back at the table Hunk fiddled with the other one. Keith blinked at them, humans were resourceful. Pidge reached up and grabbed the smaller translator, fastening it with the strings to Keith’s wrist. She smiled proudly but turned as the door opened.

Shiro and Allura reentered the hut and Pidge turned quickly to them.

"Shiro! It works!" Pidge called.

"It does?" Shiro asked glancing to Allura who blinked curiously at him. "Keith? Can you understand me?"

"Yeah." Keith replied and Allura put a hand to her mouth in shock.

"Here is Allura's." Hunk moved towards the door and held out the other one with a gentle smile, she took what was offered and Hunk assisted her in tying it around her wrist.

"Now you both will look and sound the part of human." Pidge explained.

"Incredible!" Allura gasped. She understood all the humans in the room.

"Alright cadets." Shiro's tone turned commanding. "Allura and Keith will be staying with us for a bit so any ideas on how I can hide them would be appreciated. Also you all have class in a few hours so I have to get you three back.”

"Don't worry about that, Shiro." Pidge smirked wildly. "While Hunk was decommissioning the translator, I was hacking the Garrison's systems.”  
The entire group blinked with the exception of Hunk.

“The system will automatically mark us as present if we are marked absent in class today - as for you, Lt. Shirogane. You are in ‘highly classified training’ and have been removed from your instructor duties - with pay of course.” Pidge looked far too proud of herself.

“You. You can do that?” Shiro was more impressed than angry.

“I also can hack the feed of them playing with Allura and Keith’s ship.” Pidge walked to her laptop and pressed a few keys and held it to Shiro. “They haven’t made much headway yet.”

Shiro put his face into his hands.

“This is insane.” Shiro murmured. The last few hours had been crazy and he glanced at the two humanoid aliens. Keith was fidgeting with his new translator and Allura leaned towards Pidge’s screen to watch the feed of her ship. “Okay. Well. Next step.” It was hard to maintain control of this team and he rubbed his face while hiding a yawn.

“How about you take a nap, Shiro.” Lance smirked.

“No. I’m fine.”

“It’s alright Shiro, you rest. I’ll make breakfast.” Hunk moved towards the old kitchen. “Let’s see what old hermit Kogane left for us, huh?”

As the Cadets and aliens started to move around, Shiro relented and walked over to the only bedroom in the old shack. “Fine. Just. Wake me up if you hear anything okay?”

It wasn’t long until the soft snores of their leader filled the room.

 

Keith found himself in the kitchen with Hunk and Pidge, and while Hunk dug through the cupboards, Pidge tried to climb onto one of the counters.

Keith watched the shortest one jump and squirm for a moment until he groaned and stepped forward. That was him once - the shortest Galra, always desperate to keep up with everyone else. What he was about to do, Allura did to him once - but only once. He never let her try again.

Keith grabbed Pidge and hoisted her up onto the counter, she was unsurprisingly light but struggled and protested against his grip.

“There.” He said flatly as he dropped her unceremoniously on the counter, her legs dangling between them. She pouted and turned her head away from him, her cheeks flushing red.

“I could have done it myself.”

“Good news guys! Looks like the old hermit left us several ‘Hamburgers in a Can’, ‘re-re-re-fried beans’, and ‘Mystery label less can’”  
Pidge made a gagging sound and Keith squinted at the items in Hunk’s hands.

“What is that?” He asked.

“Food - er - well cans of food.”

“That’s being incredibly generous Hunk. Old mystery rations aren’t really the best Earth has to offer.”

“It’ll make due for now.” Hunk rolled his shoulder. “Time to prepare some sustenance!”

Keith watched him fire up a weird square and root around for weird utensils. Hunk hummed happily as he went, pouring some weird brown food goo into a pan. It hissed and sizzled.

“Want to help, Keith?” Hunk asked, smiling to the Galra.

“Uhhhh - okay.” He glanced over to where Allura was on the couch but she didn’t even look up. He swallowed. 

“Perfect, here. Stir the beans.” Hunk handed Keith a spoon and pointed him to a pot with chunky weird food goo. Great. Keith hated Altean food goo, and it seemed like humans were on a weird variant of the gross stuff. Keith stared blankly down at the pot and Hunk smirked.

“Like this.” Hunk took Keith’s hand and he jumped at the touch. He hovered behind him, showing how to slowly mix the goop in the pot with uneasy wrist movements. Keith’s stomach gave a loud growl and he froze in the spot, his eyes going wide.

“So you aliens do get hungry!” Hunk let out a hearty laugh.

Keith stared down on the pot, trying to hide his embarrassment as Hunk returned to other kitchen work. Gross slopping noises as contents of another can hit a plate.

“I am so not hungry Hunk.” Pidge declared, wrinkling her nose.

 

Allura sat on the couch watching the trio in the kitchen, Lance flopped beside her and smiled with one eyebrow raised.

“So - uh you’re from outer space?” He started in a playful tone.

“Yes Lance. Did we not establish that?” She questioned.

“I can tell - your body is out of this world!” His line fell flat just like her smile. “Sorry.” He quickly covered. “A little bit of Earthling humor.”

“Oh! Humor! Perfect! Tell me more!” She looked so excited and turned herself in her seat to face Lance.

“Ah - yeah.” Lance scratched the back of his head. “Okay - uhh - jokes for aliens - alright. As a garrison cadet I know a lot of space jokes. They’re a little lame but-”  
Allura stared at him in wonder and Lance’s face flushed, he swallowed heavily.

“Okay - What do planets like to read?”

Allura cocked her head to the side.

“Comet books!” Lance held up his hands and looked at her expectantly. She blinked slowly as she registered the words.

“Can - can you explain it?” She asked.

“Yeah okay - that one fell flat. Uh. We have a type of book called a comic book, it’s kind of a play on the same sounding words. Comic - Comet. Heh.” He looked ashamed and Allura cocked her head.

“Hmmm - Try another, Lance.” She smiled.

“Okay --- Why did the sun go to school.” She studied him with large blue eyes and Lance continued. “To get brighter!”

Silence. 

“Maybe humor doesn’t translate well.” Lance frowned.

“Maybe you are doing it wrong! Let me try!” Allura cleared her throat. “Once my father and the team traveled to an oonaloo swap moon, and foolish old Coran gave away three quarters of his shipment of Lango in exchange for a used pogo oscillator! My father was NOT pleased.” She gave a chuckle at her own story. Lance blinked and gave a pity laugh.

“Yeah - that’s - uh - fun?” Lance fumbled with the words.

“Ow!” Keith yelped from the kitchen.

“Don’t eat it with your hands, Keith” Hunk scolded, the ruckus drawing Allura’s attention. She closed her eyes slowly and jutted out her bottom lip to pout. Lance snickered at her expression.

It seemed sass did translate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long - I plan to start writing again so yay! I am so bad at multi chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I want to confirm ships? I was just kinda leaving it open, having cute things between all characters so that you can claim things as romantic or platonic, whatever you want. If you like it, let me know! Advice and comments always appreciated.


End file.
